


Fear of a Name

by madam_minnie



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-01
Updated: 2008-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-03 11:31:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madam_minnie/pseuds/madam_minnie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything seemed to slow down as he walked toward the creepy hat with the smile on its face sitting atop of the wooden stool and he remembered his father's stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fear of a Name

**Author's Note:**

> For tjwritter for her wonderful musical WROCK inspiration. Hope you like it babe.

"Albus Potter," he heard his name echo in the Great Hall as the entirety of Hogwarts gathered their collective breath and watched him walk toward the stool in the center of the raised platform. Everything seemed to slow down as he walked toward the creepy hat with the smile on its face sitting atop the wooden stool and suddenly, he remembered one of his father's stories.

_"Can we have a bedtime story please?" Lily whined and though Albus was too old for such silly things, or so James liked to remind him, he looked forward to the heroic tales his father told._

_Harry could tell the stories about his childhood like they were not about him and while Lily's favorite was always the story about the first day Dad brewed the Amortentia potion and realized he'd been in love with Mom, it was the story of his namesake's sacrifices that Albus loved most._

_"Alright," Harry said, lifting Lily and carrying her upstairs as he and James followed, knocking each other against the walls and tripping each other up the stairs until Mom shouted or hexed one of them. "It's Al's turn to choose," Harry continued when they reached Lily's room and set her on the bed._

_Albus sat on the edge of the bed and shrugged when Harry turned his attention toward him. "Well? Which will it be?" Harry prodded gently._

_"Doesn't matter," Albus muttered._

_"Okay, Slythie forfeits,” James shouted quickly. “I want to hear the one about your first Quidditch win against the Malfoy git!" James said shoving Albus' shoulder to make room for him on Lily's small bed._

_"It's Al's turn," Harry repeated. "How about," he said looking up to the ceiling and drawing his wand, "this one." He waved in the air and laid back beside Lily as the image of an old memory appeared in the enchanted ceiling and played without sound._

_"The boy approaching the sorting hat, with the greasy hair and the tattered robes, wanted more than anything to be sorted into Slytherin. His mother was in Slytherin you see and was even the Captain of the Gobstones team. He was starting out the year in the shadow of a family member."_

_"I know what that's like!" James said from the edge of the bed, which Harry had magically enlarged so the four could comfortably fit. His fingers were laced behind his head, his feet in his father’s face. "Try living up to Dad and Grandad's name! It's exhausting!"_

_"Oh come off it," Lily said sleepily. "You love all the attention. Especially the girls throwing themselves at you." She stifled yawn and burrowed into her father’s arm._

_Harry grinned and continued his tale. "It's not easy to live in the shadow of a namesake but watch what happens as he sits down on the stool."_

_They watched as the sallow-skinned boy sat on the stool and Headmistress McGonagall placed the hat on his head. He sat there very still, clutching the stool tightly. Albus could tell by the white knuckles._

_"He's arguing with the hat," Albus said. "Isn't he?" Lifting his head, he met his father's identical gaze._

_"That's exactly what he's doing," Harry said. "The hat wanted to sort him into Gryffindor. Knew that he would one day prove to be as brave as Godric Gryffindor but would use the cunning of Salazar Slytherin. He fought with the hat and won," Harry said with a smile. "He fought to be sorted into Slytherin as I fought to be sorted into Gryffindor." He swished his hand and the image swirled and changed again and this time it was an eleven-year-old Harry they watched approach the stool slowly and nervously watch the hat lowered onto his head. Behind him, watching earnestly was the Potions Master Albus had been named after--Severus Snape._

_"Why didn't want you to be in Slytherin, Papa?" Lily asked._

_"I really didn't know anything about the houses. Uncle Ron told me that nothing good came of Slytherin and that only the darkest of wizards came from that house. It wasn't until the battle at Hogwarts that I realized how untrue that was. It's not the House you're sorted into that determines what type of witch or wizard you'll be," Harry said as the image dissolved. "It's the choices you make a wise man once told me," he completed with a wink._

As the Sorting Hat was lowered onto his head, Albus Potter relaxed and when the tattered hat shouted 'Slytherin' to the still silent room, Albus stood, handed the hat back to the small professor and said, "That's Albus SEVERUS Potter, sir."


End file.
